In a singles-based genre like dancehall, cohesive albums are hard to come by, but Capleton pulls it off. The Prophet fills the 20-track offering with rootsy selections like the lead single, “That Day Will Come,” a cautionary tale of the rapture. “Ton Load” and “Steppin’ Up” stick to conscious themes as well, but he rides hot bashment riddims like Chrome, Red Alert, and Kopa, too. Unlike his past releases, he steers clear of even a single “batty boy” reference; instead, it’s up to the listener to determine who’s on the receiving end of the fire in tracks like “Burn Dem.”
El Gato #9 Liberty EP
The fourth release on Nor Cal’s EOM label sees DJ and producer Christopher Leath unleashing a dark bit of experimental techno. Recalling the halcyon days of labels like Reflective, Apollo and others, when the lines of distinction between genres of techno and ambient were still fuzzy, the Cat merges techno, acid, breaks, ambient and experimental IDM with lo-fi political samples and haunted synths. As unsettling as it is unpretentious, “Liberty” should provoke a reaction wherever it’s aired.
Onethema Sticks For Bits
Another music revolution is being ushered in by producers like 20-year-old London resident Simon Petre (Onethma) who’ve grown up using downloaded music software (shareware). Creating radical electronic sounds outside the confines of traditional sequencing programs, manuals or interfaces, Petre incorporates processing mistakes in his neo-classical, minimalist, splattering ambient sound explosions. Thorny listening for sure, but revolution is never comfortable.
Break Reform Waiting
Break Reform joins Spacek and Jos»e in redefining what UK soul is all about. Singing over decidedly leftfield jazz-IDM motifs, the duo brings a subtle sepia tone to their fog-drenched compositions. Their melancholia suits remixer Domu perfectly, as he switches to downtempo fractured hip-hop gear for another sublime and essential offering.
Rennie Pilgrem Celeb
Rennie’s Pilgremage full-length was undoubtedly a 2004 breakbeat highlight, and the solidly independent producer doesn’t let up on this single. “Celeb” finds MC Chickaboo railing against the vapid culture of stardom that takes up far too much of our time. Both Pilgrem’s original funky horns mix and Smithmonger’s darker dub version make for another A-class release from TCR.
Styrofoam Nothing’s Lost
With 2003’s I’m What’s There to Show That Something’s Missing, Brussels-based producer Arne Van Petegem swapped DSP contortions for more micro-edited melody. Now Petegem has reconciled his range within plaintive pop. Crispy, sputtering click-tracks dashed with minor key accoutrements are sculpted with the stellar assists of Anticon’s Alias, the Notwist’s Markus Archer, the Postal Service/Death Cab for Cutie’s Ben Gibbard and American Analog Set’s Andrew Kenny. Piano shimmers and guitar twang make vapor trails through knotted tendrils of prickly skitter eddies. Petegem’s own vocals-along with those of Gibbard, Kenny, Lali Puna’s Valerie Trebeljahr and Das Pop’s Bent Van Looy-harmonize buoyantly atop the sprawling undercurrents; and regardless of who’s singing, Petegem’s voice has never been clearer.
Yellotone Tar File Junction
Continuing to establish itself as the UK’s premier home for new electronic talent, Ai unleashes this monster of an album. Harnessing the electro leanings of an illustrious Op-Art/B12/Black Dog past and updating this lineage through modern technological know-how and Simon Harding’s use of “real” instruments, most noticeably guitar, Tar File Junction feels like an intimate introduction to one man’s distinct conception of the realm of instrumental music. Free from simple repetitive loops and embracing the possibilities of sound, Mr. Harding’s ambitious debut is a stellar addition to a crowded field of IDM noodling.
Encre Flux
A startling amalgam of disparate influences, this phenomenal gripping work of cerebrum barrowing brilliance drafts the visceral potency and poetry of the orchestra on to a shrewdly conceived post-rock frame. Like truly great music, Fluxís power defies description, existing in itís own careful parallel universe where rivers flow upstream and grand pianos mark every street corner. Perhaps itís the furiously perfect drums, the cello gauges, the ramshackled enveloping instrumentation or the breathy French vocals. Perhaps itís all this, and a whole lot more.
Various Artists Mix France Brasil-Expresses Urbanas
The United States only thinks it has the monopoly on hip-hop- witness the 16 head-nodding tracks from Brazilian and French artists here. The disc leans toward the musical and mellow, like the piano underlying Kid Royal S’s “F** Capitaine A,” and Instituto and Kamau’s “Poesia de Concreto,” which asks “voce vive ou so sobrevive?” (Do you live or just survive?) Brazilian Xis contributes the more beat-intensive “Girias do Norte.” One drawback: With the exception of Congolese MC Pyroman, who guests on “En El Frente” with Veiga and Salazar, the disc mainly alternates tracks from French and Brazilian artists, instead of letting them collaborate.
Chris Joss You’ve Been Spiked
Someday ESL will release a speed metal album and surprise everyone. This is not that album. Instead, Joss sticks with the loungetastic, retro sound that the labelís consistently put out. Think astronauts in suits and skinny ties, surrounded by Martian babes in 70s bikinis, all sipping top-shelf martinis, and youíll get the vibe here. From the first fat notes of bass, soon joined by an organ that could have come straight from a Ray Charles outtake in Blues Brothers and wah wah guitars that would give Ron Jeremy flashbacks, Frenchman Joss settles in for a long, deep groove.
